Sunday, January 13, 2008

First Visit to the Dean Dome

This Saturday, Diane and I took Eliza to her first UNC basketball game at the Dean Dome (versus NC State), thanks to tickets from Aunt Julie, who is an EMT with the South Orange Rescue Squad. My day started with a special breakfast at McDonalds with Psalter, since she wasn't coming on the trip with us.

Then it was on to Chapel Hill. For me, it was a chance to further the indoctrination of Carolina in my oldest child, and so we parked on Rosemary Street to walk the mile or so down through campus to the game, rather than parking closer. I am still enamored with Carolina and provided a running commentary to Eliza of the different buildings and memories there, as she skipped and basically humored me by saying, "Uh-huh." We went to the Student Stores, and she got to pick out a "Carolina pink" t-shirt (which she promptly put on) and then we continued through campus, past the football stadium and down towards the Dean Dome, where we met my sister Carly, who is a freshman at UNC. We dropped Jacob with her to spend a couple hours in Craig Dorm, and then hustled down the hill to the game.

It was close to tip-off, which I hate to miss, so the end of our trip involved me running up the Dean Dome steps with Eliza on my back. We entered the arena just as the Heels were being introduced, and needless to say it was loud and a bit overwhelming to Eliza, but she hung in there, and by the five-minute mark of the first half was coloring away in her seat!


By halftime she was ready to go home, but luckily her friend River was at the game, too, and had an extra seat in her row, so Eliza spent the second half with River and her parents.

The game was a rout, which in some ways is not quite as fun, and then was the long walk uphill back to the car. Needless to say, all of us were absolutely zonked - Diane fell asleep at 8:30, I was out by 10 and Eliza slept until 8:00 this morning.
Going to a game carting a 1-yr-old and a 4-yr-old is not as easy as going alone, but it was worth it to have this first experience at a Carolina game with Eliza. Here's to many more!

7 comments:

Jeremy said...

you're going to be so bitter when eliza ends up going to duke

Drew said...

Well Done Marsh...That tail whoopin' took me back to the Raymond Felton era. I see that GUPY pride even extends to the Dean Dome.

Sean Meade said...

great post, Marsh. happy for your trip. everyone's lookin' good :-)

MarySuz said...

i love you children!

justin smith said...

you should be expecting a call from nc child protective services shortly.

Brad said...

ahhh, jealousy! it's been about 4 yrs since I've been back to the Dome. and that's after I lived literally across the street for four years. glad you guys had a good time!!

Rachel said...

eliza looks so INCREDIBLY cute on the tarheel foot. LOVE it! so glad you had such good family time! makes me miss your kiddos (and you and d too of course!)